Western Mass. Hispanics jubilant over Supreme Court nomination

When Springfield lawyer Petra I. Cervoni began practicing law in the 1990s, there were few Latinas in the business.

Tuesday's nomination by President Barack H. Obama of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter is being cheered by Cervoni and others in the Hispanic community as a watershed moment.

"I believe it was time, and I am delighted. I am honored for her," Cervoni said.

She and others say the nomination of the first Hispanic to the U.S. Supreme Court echoes for their community what the election of Obama meant for black Americans.

Area attorneys and activists say Sotomayor, 54, a judge on the U.S. Appeals Court, offers an attractive combination of a hard-knocks personal story, an Ivy League education and an impressive professional resume that includes public service and private practice.

Born to Puerto Rican parents, Sotomayor grew up poor in the housing projects of the South Bronx, N.Y., raised by her mother after her father died when she was 9. She attended Princeton University and Yale Law School.

Cervoni recalled her own introduction to the legal system as she began to practice law in commenting on Sotomayor's nominations. "I have an accent, and you get a lot of comments and questions, like: 'Do you speak English?'" Cervoni said, adding that she knew only one other Latina attorney when she moved to the area: Teresita Alicea.

Alicea, the first Hispanic woman to open a private law practice in Springfield, said Sotomayor's nomination represents a welcome change that she has seen across the region and now at the highest levels of the judiciary.

"A few years ago, I was in court and I counted 12 minorities from attorneys, to probation officers to judges. There used to be none. I thought: What a difference a few years makes."

Local Latino activist Heriberto Flores said the news of Sotomayor's nomination ignited Hispanics across the nation.

"For our community, it was just like when Obama was elected for African-Americans. Stay in school, work hard .¤.¤. It doesn't matter if you come from a poor family, there will be rewards," said Flores, president and chief executive officer of Partners for Community, a network of antipoverty programs. "It was a good day January 20, and it's a good day today."

Sotomayor was nominated as a U.S. District Court judge in New York by President George H.W. Bush. She was later promoted by President William Clinton to the Second Circuit of the Court of Appeals, regarded as a challenging circuit that includes New York and Connecticut. Her decisions have been billed as "centrist" and highly reliant on legal precedents set by higher courts.

Arthur D. Wolf, a professor at Western New England College School of Law, said the fact that Sotomayor has twice withstood scrutiny by the Senate Judiciary Committee during her previous appointments increases her chances of overcoming a third vetting.

"When President Clinton nominated her to the Appeals Court, the questioning at that time was probably more extensive than it would have been ordinarily because everyone sensed back then that she might someday be a nominee for the Supreme Court," Wolf said, ticking off the factors that forecast her ascension through the judiciary - female, superb academic and professional credentials and work in the private and public sectors.

"Not to mention her very humble beginnings," Wolf said.

He added that her heritage may persuade Republicans to scale back potential attacks during the upcoming hearings.

"The largest growing minority population is the Hispanic population; it has been for the last 10 or 15 years," Wolf said, noting that Hispanics are on track to become the majority in the not-too-distant future. "Certainly in the lifetime of many Republicans."

Wolf said hearings may take place as early as June to get Sotomayor settled in for the high court's session in October.